Caregiver Perspectives on Parenting In 2 Worlds: A Culturally Grounded Parenting Program for Urban American Indian Families

Background and Purpose:
Urban American Indian families navigate social, cultural, and historical determinants of health shaped by settler colonial policies, including placement in boarding schools away from family members and the disruption of Indigenous caregiving systems. These experiences continue to influence parenting practices and youth behavioral health. At the same time, Indigenous families sustain resilience through relationality, cultural identity, and community-based practices. Parenting in 2 Worlds (P2W) is a culturally grounded parenting intervention developed through community-based participatory research (CBPR) to support American Indian caregivers raising adolescents in urban settings. While prior research demonstrates the efficacy of P2W in improving parenting and youth outcomes, less is known about caregiver-identified pathways of change. Guided by the Indigenist Ecological Systems Model, this study examines how caregivers understood the need for intervention, the most beneficial aspects of the curriculum, and the impact of participation in P2W.

Methods:
Data were drawn from four focus groups with American Indian caregivers who participated in P2W at site in four regions of the US (n=12). Focus groups elicited caregiver experiences of parenting, motivations for participation, and perceived changes following the intervention. Transcripts were analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis approach informed by CBPR principles and Indigenist methodologies. Coding followed an iterative, inductive-deductive process, including open coding to identify emergent concepts and focused coding to evaluate intervention outcomes based on the specific aims of the study. Analytic memos and team-based discussions supported interpretation and alignment with community-informed perspectives. Consistent with Indigenist approaches, the research team engaged in ongoing reflexivity, situating interpretation within relationships to community, culture, and lived experience.

Findings:
Analysis identified a process of caregiver change situated within broader ecological and historical contexts. Caregivers described motivations for participation that reflected intergenerational processes, including awareness of limited affection in their own upbringing, desire to interrupt cycles of disconnection, and the need for culturally safe parenting spaces. Engagement in P2W—through storytelling, peer learning and support, and reflection—facilitated shifts in parenting practices, including increased affection, communication, and intentionality in setting boundaries and creating shared family values. These changes were described as strengthening parent–child relationships and supporting youth emotional security and self-regulation. Caregivers also identified limitations of the P2W intervention, including the need for deeper tribally specific cultural adaptation and more explicit trauma-informed approaches to address ongoing intergenerational trauma.

Conclusion and Implications:
Findings position parenting as a critical site of both historical disruption and relational healing within Indigenous families. By identifying caregiver-driven mechanisms of change, this study contributes to Indigenous social work scholarship and informs the development and adaptation of culturally grounded, trauma-informed parenting interventions. Results highlight the importance of centering Indigenous knowledge, relational processes, and community context in efforts to support caregiver well-being and reduce youth behavioral health risks in urban Indigenous populations.